ART and DEATH EQUAL . . .

DEATHSCAPE

ASIN: B009YMJ2AO

After a near-death experience, artist Ashley Price is compelled to paint visions of the dead, and fears she's gone crazy. Then she paints a man buried alive and, recognizing the surroundings, she rushes to save him.

Instead of being grateful to her for rescuing him, Detective Jack Sullivan accuses her of being in league with a serial killer. He swears he will put her behind bars. Except, the more time he spends with her, the more he falls under her spell. Can he trust her, or is he walking into another deadly trap?

~ ~ ~

The fox behind the hundred-year-old Pennsylvania farmhouse inched forward in the withered grass as it stalked the meadow vole. Gray winter clouds rolled above, forcing their way across the sky, large brutes that had been twisted into violent shapes by the winds of the troposphere. The fox paid little mind to the weather, its eyes on its prize.

At the other end of the farmyard loomed a dilapidated barn, filled with the scent of moldy hay and rotting wood-the sweet scent of decay. A man crouched in the shadows of the hayloft, looking out through a gap in the boards to watch the fox.

Some hunters stalked their prey; others baited their trap, then lay in wait for the ambush. He preferred the challenge of setting up the right trap, drawing his victim to him. He liked to think his way, since it required more finesse, was the nobler way.

Anyone could follow a guy into a dark alley and shoot him in the back. But a quick death was not what he had in mind for today. Detective Sullivan had dogged him for too long, had caused too much trouble. Outsmarting the guy over the years might have provided some amusement, but not enough to let him live. He'd reached too close this time.

The man glanced at the tool case at his feet. He couldn't allow the detective to jeopardize his legacy. His masterpiece had to be preserved for all the ages, for the generations that would be evolved enough to understand and appreciate it.

Outside, the fox pounced; then, a second later, it allowed the wriggling rodent to escape for a few staggering steps before pouncing again. A quick kill left no time to savor, gave the hunter no chance to improve his skills. Then the fox's ears flicked, and in the next instant, it snatched up the vole and darted into the stand of barren bushes.

Sullivan's black sedan rolled down the dirt road at last.

The detective had come alone. He would. He was that cocky.

A good hunter knew his prey and used its weaknesses.

The man in the hayloft pushed to his feet as the car rolled to a silent stop. Sullivan got out, surveyed the buildings and the surrounding barren fields, his right hand staying close to the weapon in his holster. He started for the house, crossing the yard in careful strides.

He almost walked past the chunk of bone, damn near tripped over it before he froze mid-step. Judging by the way his expression darkened, he realized pretty fast that the broken section of femur was human.

He squatted and bagged the piece of bone as evidence, by the book, called it in just as the first heavy, half-frozen raindrops crashed out of the sky. Instead of going back to wait in the safety of his vehicle for reinforcements, he kept going.

Jack Sullivan waited for no one. He worked with no one. He trusted no one. He asked for no quarter and didn't give any.

Anticipation of the pleasure of taking down a man like that, taking him apart piece by piece, gave flavor to the hunt. The man in the hayloft adjusted the rubber gloves on his hands.

He had at least twenty minutes before Sullivan's backup would show-he'd driven the distance on a half-dozen occasions in various traffic conditions and measured the time.

They would be too late.

Want to read more? 

ABOUT DANA

Dana Marton writes fast-paced action-adventure romances that take her readers all over the globe. She is a Rita Award finalist and the winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. She loves writing stories of intrigue, filled with dangerous plots that try her tough-as-nails heroes and the special women they fall in love with. Her books have been published in seven languages in eleven countries around the world.

Dana would love to hear from her readers.

THE Q & A

ANGI: What do you like about the Jack, hero of your book?

DANA: He’s tough, really a man’s man, no metrosexual anything. He’s been scarred by his past. He’s doing what he thinks is his duty, tracking down his sister’s killer. But because he does everything full-force, without holding anything back, he’s at the point where he’s losing himself to the darkness he’s chasing. It has become the most important thing in his life. He needed light in his life, a recharting of his course, but when the heroine came into his life, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to change. That’s a tough spot to be in, to be half done with a book and realize the main character might not do what I intended for him. Luckily, he has incredible inner strength and he did overcome the darkness that drew him.

ANGI: How often do you get lost in a story?

DANA: Every day. I’m obsessed with story. If I’m watching a movie or a book, I have to see it through to the end. I can’t stand not finishing a story, even if it’s terrible. I hope until the last page that the author/director will pull a brilliant switch that will make everything fall into place. I just can’t give up on a story. Housework I can let go to the point on being picked for the next episode of Hoarders. A book? Never!

 

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading? 

DANA: Robinson Crusoe was definitely one of them. And Captain Nemo. I started with sweeping adventure stories. This tends to come out in my own writing now. Half my Harlequin Intrigues are set in some jungle or middle of a desert.

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

DANA: Can it be a sentence? It’s: “Put your feet up, hon, I’ll do the dishes.” J A man at the sink is twice as romantic as a man just lying in bed.

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

DANA: I don’t think I have one. Is that terrible? I rarely watched TV as a child. My parents were big on work and studying. And I spent every free minute on reading.

ANGI: Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

DANA: I don’t listen to music as I write. My brain is completely linear. I can only do one thing at a time. I’m thinking what would be a good movie score… Something hauntingly beautiful with a dash of heartbreak. I’ll have to ask my readers. I love it that I can interact more now with them on Facebook. They have the answer for everything!

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?

DANA: I started with poems in kindergarten, then moved to angsty teenage short stories about the horribleness of parents. (Sorry, mom!) At one point, in high school, I stopped writing when an English teacher told me I had absolutely no talent. Unfortunately, I also threw out everything I’d written up to that point. I went back to writing in college--a historical romance set in ancient Egypt. I tried every romance subgenre before settling on romantic suspense. After 30 books, I think I found my perfect place.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

DANA: The internet! I need a blocker on my PC. I read the news twenty times a day. Check email. Check Facebook. I don’t dare to start playing any games, no matter how many times I get invited to Farmville etc. If I did it even once, I’d never write another book again.

 

ANGI: Is there a “Blooper” in your story (it may have been changed before printing)?

DANA: I have a mental glitch that makes me write ‘bear’ instead of ‘beer.’ So anytime you see the hero reach for a ‘cold beer’ in any book of mine, you know in the original he was reaching for a ‘cold bear.’ Once I even had that go up in an excerpt on my web site without noticing. J

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

DANA: You won’t hear me complaining. I especially like the picking out cover models part. J It can take a long time. I like to be thorough. It’s a difficult job, but somebody has to do it. I’d like to think I’m the kind of person who will step up to the plate. J

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: What drew you to write about a serial killer?  

DANA’S GOTTA ANSWER:   It wasn’t a conscious decision. In fact, I rarely read books or watch movies with serial killers. It’s not my thing. But the story came into my head, and he was in the story so I had to write it that way. This novel took forever to write, probably partially due to the fact that it had a serial killer. It was difficult for me to write scenes from his head, so I would set the book aside for long periods of time. I even had a writer friend helping me with them. Actually, the book had some darker scenes that were cut during editing because they bothered me. I write by the seat of my pants, with very little planning. An idea will come to me and I’ll let it take me to places. Sometimes they’re very uncomfortable places and I just try to hang in there until the story is told.

WHERE TO FIND DANA

Intrigue-Authors Blog 

Contact  Website  Facebook   

Twitter  @DanaMarton   Goodreads

Pintrest   Blog  Previous GLIAS interviews

UP NEXT FOR DANA

DEATHTRAP

The 2^nd book in the series, featuring Captain Bing

June 2013

MOST ELIGIBLE SPY

Harlequin Intrigue

July 2013

PREVIOUSLY BY DANA

THREE COWBOYS

Morgan

Harlequin Intrigue

ISBN: 0373696582

LAST SPY STANDING

SPY HARD

THE SPY WORE SPURS

Harlequin Intrigue

DANA will be DRAWING for something completely different. I’ll be giving away a Kindle copy of my amazon bestselling epic fantasy romance, THE THIRD SCROLL.  International readers No Kindle required as amazon will let you read in any format, including right on your PC. Be sure to leave your email address for easy notification.

Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Don’t feel comfortable leaving your email on the website? Send it directly to Angi @ GetLostInASotry@gmail.com  Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address. 

DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join me next Wednesday when I host Diane Kelly of DEATH & TAXES fames. And come back tomorrow when we priemiere Donnell's new book. ~Angi

DANA WANTS TO KNOW:

Did you ever have anything in your life that you just couldn’t give up on no matter what? Jack had his quest for the killer. I had writing. Even after making up my mind that I’ll keep on writing whether I’ll ever get published or not, it still took me 13 more years to finally sell a book. What’s the one thing for you that you couldn’t let go, no matter the setbacks?